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Docherty seals Hamilton draw

Date published: Saturday 9th May 2015 4:20

Stephen O’Donnell’s effort seemed to have secured Partick all three points as they looked to close the gap on seventh-placed Hamilton, but Docherty headed home five minutes from time to ensure honours ended even.

Dougie Imrie was the first to get a sight of goal when firing wide in the fifth minute and Partick goalkeeper Scott Fox was soon into the action in saving a Kieran MacDonald effort two minutes later.

The Accies then saw Michael Devlin stretchered off with a nasty-looking injury and Partick slowly began to get a foot-hold in the game with Lyle Taylor blazing wastefully over just before the half-hour following good work from Kallum Higginbotham.

Imrie then went down in the box to no avail at the other end before Partick lost Ryan Stevenson to injury.

The rest of the half belonged to the hosts – Louis Longridge miscuing from the area’s edge and Fox pulling off a superb save onto the bar from Jesus Garcia Tena’s free-kick with Hamilton claiming the ball had crossed the line.

Hamilton goalkeeper McGovern was on-hand to twice preserve parity after the hour-mark – first fielding a weak O’Donnell effort and then scampering backwards to prevent substitute Nigel Hasselbaink netting an audacious lob.

There was no stopping O’Donnell in the 72nd minute though, when Higginbotham’s cut-back provided the space for the defender to sweep into the far corner in style.

But in the 85th minute, Ali Crawford sent over a deep corner and Docherty arrived on time to nod home at the back post to keep the hosts five points clear of their visitors.